Join us on a journey through Toruń's Old Town to discover the secrets of gingerbread and sample delights from a local manufacturer!
Along the way, you will gain insights into the origins and development of this once highly esteemed delicacy, and the Toruń Tourist Service city guide will share a few anecdotes about this most famous sweet treat of the Hanseatic city of Toruń.
Gingerbread is the foundation of our tour, an inspiration, and a starting point for exploring Toruń's rich cultural and culinary heritage, and for sharing stories about the city, its history, culture, people, and places.
Ancient gingerbread had various shapes, colours, textures, and flavours, often bearing no resemblance to what we call and understand today.
Without gingerbread, there is no Toruń identity. For centuries, gingerbread has been one of the most important symbols and associations with Toruń, a source of pride and glory for the city. It has been baked here since the 13th century, and the oldest surviving archival records, mentioning a gingerbread maker named Niclos Czan, date back to 1386.
In 1760, Johann Weese began baking gingerbread in Toruń. Until 1939, the factory belonged to the heirs of the Weese family. On January 10, 1939, Gustaw Weese, unable to withstand competition from smaller gingerbread factories and due to mortgage debts, sold the factory for 500,000 złoty to the Polish Consumer Cooperative Association "Społem." When the second world war broke out in September of that year, Weese returned to Toruń and, at the behest of the Germans, took over management of the factory. Before the war ended, he exported the vast majority of the machinery to Germany. The same machinery he had already sold before the war...
